Zelda: Breath of the Wild blog reveals new details on Twilight Princess' Midna

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's first proper DLC pack, The Master Trials, launches worldwide this Friday. To celebrate, Nintendo has been taking a look at some of the wearable items included in the DLC, and the classic Zelda characters which inspired them.

The Master Trials' Midna Helmet.

Blogs featuring details on the new Midna's Helmet item, as well as the Tingle suit, Korok mask and Phantom armour are all worth a read.

The article on Midna is especially interesting. In it, Breath of the Wild art director Satoru Takizawa reveals that Midna, your ally in Twilight Princess, was based on a design originally concepted for another, "secret project" Nintendo worked on before Twilight Princess was greenlit.

This project would have followed Wind Waker, the Zelda game which initially drew ire from fans due to its change in graphical style (which everyone now loves).

"There was a secret project we were considering working on before The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for Wii," Takizawa wrote, "and Midna inherited the character profile for the 'goblin/devilkin' character that would have been featured in that project.

"Looking back at the development notes from that time, there are some descriptions left on the notes clearly reminiscent of Midna, including 'the appearance looks like a monster or a child,' 'can't tell if she's enemy or ally,' 'can't really tell what she's thinking,' 'sometimes selfish, but sometimes cute and na´ve'. That's why initial design sketches for Midna looked a lot like this 'goblin' character."

Was this project the cancelled Wind Waker 2? It certainly seems likely. Last year, Takizawa spilled the first details on project, which was set to see Toon Link return in a full console sequel.

Early Midna concepts, previously published in official fan bible Hyrule Historia.

Wind Waker 2 would have been set more on land, and allowed Link to ride a horse once more. But the project was canned due to early reaction to Wind Waker and the desire for a darker fantasy Lord of the Rings-inspired take - which gave birth to Twilight Princess.

Midna's design appears to have survived the game's cancellation.

Another link between Wind Waker 2 and Twilight Princess was that the in-game model for Wind Waker's Tetra was initially used as a placeholder for Midna in gameplay tests.

In Breath of the Wild's Master Trials DLC, Midna's Helmet will give you a boost to your Guardian Resist stat. A little creepily, Tingle's costume will give you greater speed at night. The Korok mask will let you detect nearby hidden Koroks. And the Phantom armour will boost your attack.